The present invention relates generally to improvements in systems for stacking shingled streams of flat articles into containers, and particularly to such systems operating in conjunction with a gap generating mechanism that generates a gap in the shingled stream when shifting from the filling of one container to the next.
The present invention is an improvement on the system and machine illustrated in the co-pending application for U.S. Letters Patent, Ser. No. 659,029, filed Feb. 18, 1976, for LEAFLET HANDLING SYSTEM, now abandoned, and the continuation-in-part application based upon said application Ser. No. 659,029, filed Nov. 7, 1977, Ser. No. 849,108.
The system and apparatus of the present invention is capable of handling a wide range of flat articles which may be fed in shingled streams, including sheets of paper, leaflets including several layers of paper, small booklets, envelopes, carton blanks, and the like. However, the present invention is particularly adapted to handling relatively thick flat articles such as assembled carton blanks in the flattened condition thereof. For purposes of illustration, the system has been shown as applied to the handling of such flattened cartons, but it will be understood that various other flat articles can be satisfactorily handled by the system and apparatus.
Flat articles are commonly handled in shingled streams, i.e., streams wherein the individual articles are overlapped for a major portion of the length thereof. Several prior apparatus have been provided for stacking the articles received in a shingled stream, see for example the Maxson U.S. Pat. No. 1,545,910, the Renz U.S. Pat. No. 2,177,460 and the McWhorter U.S. Pat. No. 3,502,321, which all show stacking the leaflets in a horizontal manner. Vertical stacking of articles from a shingled stream is illustrated in the Rapley U.S. Pat. No. 2,223,850, the Faeber U.S. Pat. No. 2,853,298, the Winkler et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,856,189, and the Klapp U.S. Pat. No. 3,932,982. Vertical stacking of articles from a non-shingled stream is shown in the Rapley U.S. Pat. No. 2,223,850, the Middleditch et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,420,149, the Heliot U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,184, the Stoothoff U.S. Pat. No. 3,445,107 and Dutch Pat. Application No. 66/18060. Stacking of shingled streams of articles into inclined stacks is illustrated in the Stobb U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,653,656 and 3,822,793. None of these patents however show the stacking of articles from a shingled stream downwardly into containers in an uninterrupted manner.
The typical system for handling the transfer of stacking from one container to another is illustrated in the Dean U.S. Pat. No. 3,682,329 where temporary storage is effected while switching from one container to another. Such a system is inherently slow in operation and further is complicated in construction and operation.